Azzedine Alaia

[Flashbang]

The Future of Fashion, Part Nine: Azzedine Alaïa
October 31, 2011 9:35 am

In this ongoing series, Style.com’s editor in chief, Dirk Standen, talks to a number of leading industry figures about the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the fashion business.

There was an extra buzz in the front row at the Comme des Garçons show this season. A star was in our midst, and not just some movie actor or singer. Azzedine Alaïa, the great Tunisian-born, Paris-based designer, had come to support his friend, Rei Kawakubo. Fresh off the triumphant collection he showed during Couture in July, the first presentation he had opened up to the world’s cameras in eight years, Alaïa is more than great. He’s unique. He is the only major designer to produce collections on his own timetable, devoting his time to his private clients as well as to a thriving ready-to-wear business. (Richemont is an investor.) A few days after the Comme des Garçons show, I went to Alaïa’s headquarters in the Marais, a sprawling converted warehouse that houses his boutique, his cluttered studio (where the TV is usually tuned to the National Geographic Channel), and his living quarters. The thing that strikes you first is his vitality. He has the most infectious, mischievous giggle in fashion.

[Note: To see the full shoot of Saskia de Brauw, top, modeling Alaïa’s clothes, pick up a copy of Style.com/Print today. Photographed by Kacper Kasprzyk. Styled by Tony Irvine. Hair by Anthony Turner. Makeup by Janeen Witherspoon.]
—Dirk Standen

You are one of the only designers who have managed to work outside the system. What is your secret?
No, it’s not a secret. Today I believe that designers are asked to do too much, too many collections. It’s inconceivable to me that someone creative can have a new idea every two months. Because if I have one new idea in a year, I thank heaven. I pray, I do everything, but God doesn’t always give me ideas. [Laughs.] That’s why I’m always late with the collection.

Is it possible for young designers to follow your example?
I don’t know, to be honest. Because it’s not up to the designers anymore, it’s up to the places that employ them and demand this work from them. In my case, no one demands anything of me. When I decide to do something, I do it. But I make sure it works, too. The proof is that you sell.

Do you think it’s possible to change the system?
I don’t know, but something has to change. There are too many designers who are in a bad state, who are sick, who feel obliged to take drugs. Me, I’m high on life.

Did the stress contribute to the Galliano situation?
Yes, and [Christophe Decarnin at] Balmain. McQueen. There is too much pressure. If it ends up destroying people, it’s not good. A human being is not a machine. Especially when it comes to creating. You wouldn’t ask a painter or a sculptor to do an exhibition every two months… I even think it’s hard for the buyers and the journalists. They have to run from New York to London to Italy, Paris. And when it’s finished, they start again. They can’t spend any time with their families, their children. It’s not good.

It seems very important to you to be independent.
Even if I was in prison, I could be free in my head. I can adapt easily.

Is it true that you were offered the Dior job?
I don’t want to go into that story again. [Laughs..] No, they asked me a while ago, at the same time as Galliano, when he was at Givenchy. They asked me for Dior, but I couldn’t do it.

Do you think you would have been happy working for a big house?
Anything’s possible.

What do you think of fast fashion retailers?
I like them a lot.

It might surprise people to hear that.
It’s a very good system. Even if you don’t have money, you can still dress well. I shop at H&M and Zara for my cousins and my nieces.

You don’t think they copy other designers?
Listen, everyone copies.

You’re known for your devotion to technique. You’ve worked with the same knitwear factory in Italy for 30 years, for example. But do you think technique is dying out?
No, because there are people at the big houses who don’t know technique, but they are surrounded by great technicians. Dior wasn’t a technician. But he had a feel for fashion, he had worked for a number of years at other houses, and he was surrounded by great technicians like Marguerite Carré … Chanel didn’t cut but she had a feel for it… Balenciaga, he cut. He knew. Cardin, he knew. There are people like that. Vionnet was at the highest level. But at the same time there are other houses where the designer is surrounded by people who even today have a lot of technique and understand it.

You’re not concerned that young designers will lose the sense of technique?
No, because there are good schools, schools where they learn. These schools exist.

So you are optimistic about the future of fashion?
Fashion will last forever. It will exist always. It will exist in its own way in each era. I live in the moment. It’s interesting to know the old methods. But you have to live in the present moment. The evolution today is in the machinery. There are machines that did not exist before. It allows you to be a lot more of a perfectionist.

Does the Internet interest you?
It interests me, of course. When I’m looking for a singer or music, I do the search myself. [Laughs.] No, I don’t know how to use it. But all my assistants know how to do it. I ask them to look it up for me.

But you don’t have a BlackBerry?
I have one, but I leave it on the table and I forget about it for a week.

What is the role of the fashion press?
The press is important, very important.

Has that role changed with the Internet?
It’s changed a lot. At any second, the whole world knows everything. That’s why it’s important that fashion magazines work more seriously, that they take the time to do good subjects with good photographers that you don’t find on the Internet. With the Internet, fashion goes directly to the world the same day, the same hour. Whether you are a journalist in the room or someone at home, you see it at the same time.

Is that a good thing?
It’s good, but not for the newspapers. Soon people won’t read newspapers anymore. They go on the Internet for their news. I saw a television program the other day; at schools they don’t write [by hand] anymore. Pupils go to school with their computers. Learning to write will disappear. And when they asked the little kids about it, they said, Yes, I look on the Internet if I want a book. The brain worked better before because you were forced to use your brain more. But that doesn’t mean the intelligence is less. People are more advanced now. When I meet kids today, I think, my God, I don’t know anything. But every era is different. You shouldn’t think it’s good or not good. You must live in the era you’re in. Each era will be different and it’s important to follow it. You don’t want to grow old with the past.

You and Karl Lagerfeld have managed to avoid that trap.
You’re talking about two different worlds. He goes in one direction, I go in another.

But you respect Lagerfeld?
I respect all designers. No doubt he is a worker.

People would say that you are two of the greatest designers.
I don’t think I’m a great designer. I’m good, but great is another matter… I have a lot to learn.

style.com

 

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....

Going back to magazines, do you look at fashion magazines?
I look at them. I don’t have time to read them, not at all. You buy them because [your clothes] appear in them. And if they don’t look good, it drives me mad [laughs]. I say, Don’t give them any more clothes to shoot, because it drives me mad. And it’s true, my team hides them from me. If the photos aren’t good, they don’t show me the magazine.

I hope our shoot turns out OK then.
When your magazine comes out, I’ll call you on the telephone. Be careful, because I like to play tricks, too. I play a trick and I let the person get upset, and after, I call them and tell them it was just a joke… There are too many editors who give their advice to fashion houses. It must stop, that nonsense. Everyone has their own métier and should stick to their mÉtier.

Is it important to you to make a woman look beautiful in your clothes?
It’s the most important thing. Think about it. You are married. You have a woman. You know that she buys a dress to feel good in it, to feel beautiful. My first thought is the woman’s body, how she is in a piece of clothing, how she moves. There are certain fabrics I refuse to use. If it’s going to crinkle, I say no. I hate that. Because today people are traveling so much, they don’t have time.

So the woman comes first?
I look at them. To stay in contact with the lives of women, I go down to the boutique and I watch them. How they try things on, how they act. Because the truth is there.

Is it important that actresses wear your clothes?
There are certain actresses where it’s important, because it’s their era. There are a lot of people who observe them, watch them. It’s important for a designer that his clothes are worn by beautiful women.

And fashion in general is growing?
It’s not dead, fashion. No, no, no. Just look at all the boutiques that are opening. People are buying a lot of clothes, more than ever before.

What impact have the emerging markets had on your business?
They didn’t use to come. But little by little [they started]. And now Russia is an enormous market. The number of women who come, young, young Russians. They have the buying power, and now China is starting to move. The Arab countries. They are some of the biggest customers.

And how big a role do the accessories play in your business?
The belts, the shoes, and now the bags are starting to become important, but the clothes are the most important here. There are houses where the accessories are the most important, but here it’s the clothes.

You like it that way?
Yes, because I’m a couturier. The accessories are something extra. But at the same time there are women who are crazy about shoes.

You always wear the same uniform.
I’ve been wearing Chinese clothes since I was 14. I can’t wear a suit. I’m small and when I put on a suit, it’s not possible. [Laughs.]

What does Paris mean to you?
It’s very important for me. Truly.

Could you live anywhere else?
Yes, I adapt quickly. I went once to New York on my own. I didn’t speak English. But even if you don’t speak the language, you end up finding a way around it. I’ve never felt ill at ease in another country. I feel good right away. I went to Africa with the Masai, and I was in conditions that people would find difficult, but I felt truly at ease.

Do you see differences between people in the East and West today?
Today there are no more differences. People are almost the same everywhere. [I notice that] when I see people at the airport, each time I go to the airport.

But what about the conflicts in the world?
It’s sad that today these wars exist. I would like to live in a place where you could live without problems of nationality or passports or religion.

How important is your Tunisian heritage to you?
It’s important because I was raised by my grandmother. And she was a woman who was very free for that era in Tunisia. My grandfather took me to the cinema every week. I’d watch a film four times in a day, and you can calculate how many times in a month. I learned by heart all the films that I saw, the costumes, the dialogue, and I would play each role. It’s true.

When did you first know you would become a designer?
I never did. I never thought I would at the beginning. I was at the École des Beaux-Arts. My father didn’t want me to go. He wanted me to study [at the lycée]. I couldn’t ask him for money because he thought I was going to the lycée with my brother. But not at all. I’d leave the house with my brother. He’d go the lycée. I’d go to the École des Beaux-Arts. And I started to think about how I could earn money so I wouldn’t have to ask [my father] for it. And it happened that there was a couturier in the neighborhood who put a sign on the door saying they were looking for someone to finish the clothes [at home]. I went to see them and I said I was there for my sister. My sister was going to boarding school and they had a course in couture… and I asked my sister to show me how to do it… and so I was able to earn a bit of money. And here’s where coincidence comes in. A family, who saw me going to this couturier with a package of designs, asked to see me. I told them what I was doing. And they arranged during the summer holidays for me to come to [another] couturier who was making copies of the couture houses. Dior and Balmain, I believe… And I learned a bit, and after, I wanted to come to Paris. But I wanted to come to Paris to be in Paris. I didn’t think I was going to become a designer.

[The French actress] Arletty was an important person in your life.
She became a great friend of mine… In the film Hôtel du Nord, she has this very zipped-up dress. And I thought, you only see something like this in Paris, you don’t see it anywhere else. Because there was a tonality that was unique to Paris. It doesn’t exist anymore… A friend of mine who was a hairdresser was coming to dinner, and he said, I have to do Arletty’s hair first at the theater. She’s playing [a role]. I said, I adore her. So he took me with him. And when I went into her dressing room with him, he introduced me and told her I was a couturier. And she looked at me and said, “He’s small, but when you look at him, you can’t forget him.” [Laughs.]

Photo: Kacper Kasprzyk

style.com

 

[educo]

^^ OMG thank you so much for this. Such an inspiration!

 

[foxfawn]

does anyone know where i can find videos of old alaia shows?
its even hard to find photographs from this old collections!
thanks! xx

 

[Flashbang]

Azzedine Alaïa in the 21st Century

• Lesson
• Groningen
• 15 December 2011

The exhibition Azzedine Alaïa in the 21st Century just opened at the Groninger Museum in Groningen, the Netherlands. Here the exhibition curator Mark Wilson speaks of the experience of staging the show with Tunisian-born, Parisian couturier Alaïa.

"I met Azzedine Alaïa for the first time in 1996. I was lucky, because I called his studio and asked, 'Would you be interested in doing an exhibition?' and Alaïa saw me straight away. It was good timing, because he had finished a smaller exhibition in Italy and had just started to develop the Plexiglass mannequins on which he now displays his clothes, so he was interested in pushing them further. That is how I came to do his first museum show in December 1997.

I had just started as curator at the Groninger Museum, and decided to integrate fashion into the contemporary art galleries. The museum, which is designed by the Italian architect Alessandro Mendini, is perfect for it and especially for Alaïa's pieces. He is, without question, a sculptor. And when you realise how he works, it becomes even more intriguing.

When someone is starting out, they are often forced to do everything themselves. But Alaïa still does, 40 years later. He controls everything. He draws the patterns, he cuts the patterns, he drapes the clothes. He's really one of the last great working couturiers, without a question. He usually works until the early hours of the morning because that's a quiet time for him. At times I've stayed up with him until four o'clock.

He always starts by draping fabric over the body of the mannequin, sculpting it to fit. Then he makes the patterns. But he is always perfecting them, redoing, remaking, refitting constantly. And that's why I think his work is so great: because he doesn't release anything because he needs to release it; he releases it when he's ready to release it. You don't see any mistakes with him. It is this precision, and the way he cuts his garments, that we are trying to reveal in this exhibition.

After the show in 1997 I was waiting for him to do another exhibition. I would check online every six months to see if anything was coming up, but found nothing. So I went to him in January this year and I asked, 'Azzedine, do you want to do another show?' and he said yes, and he put the time aside for it immediately.

I don't speak any French, and he speaks no English, but that doesn't matter – it's a visual thing, creating the exhibition and the whole process of making the selection. There will be between 60 and 65 outifts on show, depending on how many he gets finished, all of them from the past 10 years.

The exhibition is divided into different sections based on materials, rather than by season, because Alaïa doesn't work according to seasons. I decided to concentrate on materials that he keeps coming back to – so there's going to be a fur room, animal prints and skins, wool, cotton, chiffon, definitely knitwear and, of course, leather. It's going to fill about nine galleries, measuring around 1200 sq m in total.

Alaïa personally finds the pieces we have selected in his archive. He's kept almost everything, and if he doesn't have the pieces he still has the patterns. When we'd made our selection of what to show and started to edit it down, the garments would suddenly disappear. Then we found out why: he was remaking them from scratch or recutting them to fit the mannequins exactly. That's how he is: if he wasn't satisfied with how they fitted on the mannequin, he would recut them or remake the pieces completely.

We are making a book to go with the exhibition. We photographed all the pieces in his show space, behind his boutique in the Marais. Alaïa has been part of shooting the mannequins as well. We've been doing it in batches to leave him time to work on the outfits between sessions. He's back and forth, fitting and drawing. The mannequins remind me of the Winged Victory Greek sculpture, and that's how we've decided to photograph the pieces: as strong, iconic images that are all about the detail and the fit of the clothes.

Azzedine has produced only one other book, back in 1998. It was a collaboration with several photographers, and focused more on Alaïa as a person and the people he worked with. It wasn't so much about the clothes as the personalities wearing them. This time it's 100% about the work. This time, the garments are in focus."

WORDS Mark Wilson
PHOTOS Robert Kot

Azzedine Alaïa in the 21st Century is at the Groninger Museum from 11 December 2011 to 6 May 2012. The book accompanies the exhibition.

This is an extract from Disegno No.1. For the full piece, including the Lunch with Alaïa feature by Johanna Agerman Ross, you can buy the magazine here

disegnomagazine.com

 

[Chanelcouture09]

Azzedine Alaîa In The 21st Century

This book is published on the occasion of the second exhibition about the work of Azzedine Alaïa at the Groninger Museum in The Netherlands. This exhibition displays the most fantastic Alaïa fashion creations of the last ten years. The name Alaïa stands for glamour, sensuality, style, cut, self-confidence, comfort and, of course, sex appeal. His tight dresses embrace the bodies of the world's most seductive and successful women and received great acclaim from celebrities such as Naomi Campbell, Stephanie Seymour, Victoria Beckham, Shakira and Michelle Obama.

224 pages

*Colette.fr

 

[kasper!]

I don't it's been mentioned here..Alaia is part of Richemont group now.

 

[thejarc]

I don't it's been mentioned here..Alaia is part of Richemont group now.

It has been mentioned in an interview posted here, but he stated that they basically help him with his archive and otherwise let him alone. And they only own a minority stake, I think.

 

[Chanelcouture09]

*Snapped by ChanelCouture09

 

[kasper!]

oh sorry for this and my typo(forget to type think).

richemont is not that bad, far better then lvmh i think. a director at richemont told me alaia is a true artist, and artist is hard to deal with, and they respect artist..

 

[Miss Galliano]

I was there iN Groninger Museum ,Just amazing to see these pieces ,they are marvelous

 

[thejarc]

oh sorry for this and my typo(forget to type think).

richemont is not that bad, far better then lvmh i think. a director at richemont told me alaia is a true artist, and artist is hard to deal with, and they respect artist..

I kind of love him even more because of that because it obviously shows that he cares A LOT about his clothes when he refuses to make compromises.

 

[JuiceMajor]

Shame to learn that he doesn't really own his company...let's just hope things will carry on as it is!

 

[Cold]

i-D Winter 2013
Ph: Sølve Sundsbø
Styling: Charlotte Stockdale


i-d.co

Azzedine Alaïa is one of the most respected and cherished designers of all time, he also inspires some of fashion's biggest collectors. To be welcomed into Alaïa’s inner sanctum is to enter a sacred world, where food and family are more important than the seasonal deadlines, and home is definitely where the heart is.


“Tea or wine?” Azzedine Alaïa asks, generously offering me options from his chef’s cupboards. I’m here to interview the notoriously private legendary designer; but first, he says, we will have lunch. We sit side by side at the head of a fourteen-seater table, surrounded by his team, in a huge open plan kitchen at the very heart of the Alaïa headquarters. Alaïa eats lunch here every day with his colleagues, and anyone else who happens to pop by – supermodels, stylists, artists, editors… this is where the discussions happen, the debating and the laughter. It is the life-giving heartbeat of his world.

I look around the room, acutely aware that this is not a table of lunchtime wine drinkers; people have things to do! “Tea please,” I reply. “Delicious,” I say, sipping my Bergamot tea. We look at the label. “It’s English,” Monsieur Alaïa chuckles, “you have come all the way from London to Paris to drink the most delicious English tea!” Even the mundane is exquisite, with the Alaïa touch. Over a delicious three-course meal of chilled pumpkin soup, roast beef and vegetables, followed by caramel cake with cream, Alaïa demonstrates the warmth and sense of humour he is loved for. Born in Tunisia in the 1940s, he originally studied sculpture at L’École des Beaux-Arts, something that is immediately evident in almost every piece of his clothing. Soon after, fashion caught his eye and he convinced his sister to teach him to sew. He found his way to Paris in the 50s and after working as a couturier for Parisian high society, he did stints at Dior, YSL and Guy Laroche, until his friend Thierry Mugler, convinced him to set up on his own in the early 80s.

Alaïa has never courted the press and is not one to adhere to the increasing pressure and pace of looming seasonal deadlines. In the face of an industry that, these days, seems to be chasing its tail from one season to the next, he is an exceptional breath of fresh air and proof that integrity, and quality, still goes a very, very long way. When Alaïa started, his contemporaries were putting on huge seasonal spectacles, but he always chose to show quietly, a few days after fashion week finished, in his own space – something he still does to this day. If he doesn’t feel ready, he decides not to show at all. This season was one of those times.

In the 80s, while everyone else was designing clothes that were unisex and oversized, Alaïa’s shapes were, and still are, a product of his fascination with the female form. Each piece accentuates a woman’s body, enhancing the good and hiding the not-so-good, pulling in the waist and smoothing the bum and hips, treading that very subtle line of sexy without being vulgar.

Alaïa was the designer every supermodel made themselves available for; they turned down other jobs to walk in his shows, simply for the promise of being initiated into his world. Naomi Campbell and Veronica Webb struck up family-like relationships, staying on and off at his house for years.

“I have been so lucky to be surrounded by so much beauty in my life,” Alaïa says, his eyes lighting up. “These girls started their careers here, they gave me their youth, their beauty and I am so grateful for that.” Alaïa is still in touch with all the original 80s supermodels. Naomi Campbell gave him one of his dogs, a little Maltese called Anouar. While Stephanie Seymour, who put on a show of his work in New York not long ago, always passes through his atelier whenever she is in town. The countless images of Linda, Naomi, Christie and co. in his sculptural bodycon dresses are some of the most iconic of the time and are still endlessly referenced to this day. “I suppose my clothes are an homage to all women and to all the women in my life,” Alaïa says. Many of the shapes he developed over 30 years ago are still being produced in his collections today. There is a magical quality to his work; each piece, without exception, is timeless. Yes, the techniques may change, new materials or hemlines may occasionally be introduced, but there is continuity, and an evolution within each piece and each collection that maintains relevance. “It is extremely important to me that the pieces I make should work now and in all periods,” Alaïa explains. “I am not trying to create a revolution; it’s always an evolution. Once I have the shape or the idea I just develop it. It should always work 20 years from now. That’s what Chanel did and that’s why Chanel is still successful and has lasted such a long time. She had one good idea and didn’t try to change it.”

Easier said than done. But the proof is in the pudding because right now, more than 30 years after his debut, these are very interesting times for Monsieur Alaïa. Only a few weeks ago, during Paris fashion week, he and curator Olivier Saillard opened an exhibition, simply entitled Alaïa, at the newly restored Palais Galeria. It is a magnificent display of works from throughout his career: from the metal beaded dress that Tina Turner wore to leopard knit dresses that conjure up iconic 90s imagery of lined-up supermodels to a hooded knit dress that Grace Jones wore, and the list goes on. Next door, the Musée d’Art Moderne displays some of his magnificent gowns, juxtaposed with a jaw-dropping backdrop of Matisse’s Nymphs. “I’ve done plenty of exhibitions, so I wouldn’t say it’s something I’ve waited for my whole, life but of course it means something to me to have it here in Paris, finally,” he says. “For me it is important to have it here, because I am here, this is where it should be.” Next on the agenda for exhibitions is Russia and New York.

Alaïa is nothing if not contemporary – he recently designed the red dress Rihanna wore to the Grammys, which is also featured in the exhibition. At the other end of the table, his nephew Montassar is discussing whether or not they will go to the Jay Z concert to which they have just been invited. Rihanna, Shakira, Beyoncé and Alicia Keys will all be there. “I like them all. And they all come here. We dress them all,” he says. (Shakira, in fact, gave Alaïa his other Maltese dog, called Waka Waka.)

Contrary to what has been reported by some, Alaïa did design a new collection this season, but he simply decided not to show the collection to the press – he felt he hadn’t developed his ideas as far as he wanted yet. “There was not enough time this season, I spent a huge amount of time restoring all the pieces for the exhibition,” he explains. Nonetheless there are still new architectural feats in the collection – bonded silks in stretch, to give the look of the lightest material, while drawing in the waist and floating out into curved hips or down to the floor. There are scalloped hems, with petal-like pleats, as well as 3D zigzag hems. These are more like magical sculptures than clothes.

Alaïa has revisited some of his most celebrated ideas, perhaps inspired by working with his archive; there are leather skirts with metal eyelets – something that originally appeared in his first lauded collection in the 80s and are in the show at the Palais Galeria (he was one of the first to work with leather in clothing). There are also classic pieces, like the shirtdress that appears every season, with bias cut layers at the skirt and a slight drawstring at the waist. Even with the simplest item, Monsieur Alaïa is there with his woman, coaxing her into her perfect self.

Every single pattern that is made comes from his hands, he works and works on them until they are perfect. It can take weeks, even months, but they will not be finished until he feels they are ready. “I do the pattern and I do all the pattern- changes,” he explains. “I am involved in all of the shoots, the sales. Then, when others would hand it over, I make sure that the production is absolutely correct. This is my least favourite part, but I do it, it’s very important.” When I ask him why it’s important for him to do absolutely everything himself, he simply replies, “because that’s just the way it is.” When I ask his assistant how many people work in the studio alongside him, she tells me, “He has a few assistants, but Monsieur Alaïa is the studio; the studio is Monsieur Alaïa.”

His dedication and passion is tangible in the clothes. The exquisite feeling of his clothes is something so special that almost no woman is immune, be it editors or designers, stylists or buyers. “This is what it is all about for me,” he says. “I want women to feel great. When I am making these pieces, I am thinking about all women. It is not one woman, it is every woman. I want them to feel good. It is about all women, young, old, everyone. You see, you are my customer. Maybe you will buy only a few pieces now, but as you get older and can afford more I’m sure I will dress you more,” he says with a huge mischievous grin. It is this sophisticated charm that has cultivated a group of collectors – from Naomi Campbell to Stephanie Seymour to Carla Sozzani and i-D’s fashion director Charlotte Stockdale – that form something between a cult and a family for him. Alaïa has relinquished many of his hobbies these days: “I travel from my desk to my television now. I don’t have much time these days.” But he loves to read and he loves to watch old cabaret and silent movies. With a gleam in his eye, he confesses, “I wanted to be an actor, a singer, a dancer, if I hadn’t been a designer. That is if cooking didn’t work out.” His main pastime these days though is being a collector himself.

Alaïa has a huge collection of Balenciaga, Margiela, Vionnet and Comme des Garçons. “I don’t want to leave anyone out. Rei Kawakubo is the only one I will mention as a favourite designer because she is a great woman, she stands apart and I love her work.” He also collects a lot of design pieces: Martin Szekely, the Bouroullec Brothers, Pierre Charpin, and Marc Newson, who is also one of his best friends.

For Alaïa, there is an implicit link between art and its creator. Just as many of his own collectors have become long-term friends, so he has befriended many of the artists whose work he collects. “Some people don’t like to meet the artists who make the work they like because they are often disappointed,” he says, “but I like to meet the artists who I collect, who make the work I love. I always like the artists whose work I like. I accept the person exactly as they are. If I like their work, I like them.” He hopes to eventually turn his Rue De Moussy store – that currently functions as his atelier, showroom and home – into the Alaïa Foundation, to house his archive as well as everything he has collected from other designers and artists.

The weekend after Paris fashion week finished, with very little fanfare, Monsieur Alaïa opened his second ever store. The new space is a palatial three-storey mansion in Paris’s Golden Triangle, right next to Balenciaga, Prada, Céline and Chanel. There are no shop windows, which Monsieur Alaïa says affords him a certain freedom, but there are high ceilings and light airy spaces looking out onto a central courtyard. This gives each colour or material room to breath, and highlights accessories and dresses on display like sculptures. So, why now, over 30 years after he opened his only other store? “It was simply a question of finding the right space, which we finally did,” he replies, nonplussed.

The “we” in this conversation refers to the owner of 10 Corso Como, Carla Sozzani, his great friend and something of a business partner, who he says played a big part in making this store happen. “She is like my sister. Our relationship is so special. She has so much energy. She is always positive and optimistic. She is also extremely elegant. She is strong and soft at the same time. I have never met anyone like her. And I have met everyone, every editor, every stylist but I have never met anyone like her. Really never.”

This link between Alaïa and his work knows no bounds and it is something you understand once you meet him. His warmth stems from his upbringing in Tunisia where he says he was always surrounded by family and friends, eating together, discussing. “There is luxury, and there is luxury,” he says.

“For some, luxury means having lots of money and a huge car, but to me that means nothing. What is all that without a good plate of food? For me, luxury is being able to do exactly what you want every day, to have a great plate of spaghetti with great friends and family, or a delicious mozzarella, tomato and basil salad.”

Woody Allen once said there are only four things that matter in life: health, education, people and money. Alaïa agrees. “Of course having your health is important,” he confirms. “You can be poor but if you have your health you can still work. To be honest, even if you have no education you can still work, and you can still eat a delicious sandwich. But with all the money in the world – you can’t buy a simple plate of pasta that I cook in my kitchen. Health and friends are the two things that are most important – the rest means nothing.”

 

[luisa]

Does he still do Haute Couture?

 

[CommanderTMugler]

Does he still do Haute Couture?

In a way that's all he does... his craftsmanship is impeccable but it doesn't classify as such by legal reasons. His shoes and accessories are his bread and butter now (well at least to us mortals) which are sold in specific retailers and some people have a hold of it. His name still and forever will hold a prestige in fashion.

We see celebs in his pieces here and there, though it's only his accessories and shoes which he has made available. He will lend his archive pieces to Beyonce and Naomi and such once in a blue moon. He's such a sleek designer but at the same time complicated as to who can wear his designs. Anyone can buy the accessories but few can dig into his archives.

 

[Lola701]

ALAIA spring 2014
http://vimeo.com/86701435

 

[nataliaapple]

Azzedine Alaïa Spring 2015

Style

Following the show that Azzedine Alaïa held for friends and clients in his Marais studio on Tuesday evening, one important detail begged confirmation: How many outfits did he send out this season? Sixty? Seventy?

The answer: upwards of 90 (see a selection of looks from the show in the slideshow above). By any measure, the offering could be described as generous. Compulsive even. Exactly one week earlier, Karl Lagerfeld showed nearly as many looks for his Chanel show, a mock protest staged by models marching on a Haussmannian boulevard replica within the Grand Palais. A performance of that scale demanded an equally ample collection.

But for Alaïa, the looks did not signal bravado as much as an ostinato of visual ideas—his way of repeating subtle variations on the same precise point of view enhanced by some noticeably new materials. This season, the standby fit-and-flounce Alaïa silhouettes appeared with raffia knitted into concentric coils around skirts and as a monochromatic jacquard in a vaguely Ottoman motif. Large embroidered dots punctuated Japanese poplin, and metallic thread bubbled up from dresses like beadwork. The designer also used a lattice-type grid of macramé lace as panels that bisected gently cinched shirtdresses. When lacquered, that same lace resembled laser-cut leather. A graphic knit motif of ovals had the effect of computer coding.

His workmanship with exotic skins seemed even more painstaking than usual. Apparently, a python jacket had been cut on the bias (we’re still wrapping our head around that one), and footwear featured perfect discs of silver-dusted galuchat. Even the crisp military-inspired grouping that opened his show held all sorts of savoir faire secrets. Into the waist of a khaki gabardine skirt, the designer inserted snippets of boning the length of collar stays. Zippers tucked within the vents offered added versatility. Later on, as a softer counterpoint, he placed ruffles just below the hip-hugging yoke of a skirt or edged a blouse in crenellated trim that began as a placket and ended as an extended collar.

When a streamlined white tennis dress and a fabulous knitted ruffle-legged jumpsuit can coexist in the same collection, the reason is simple: pourquoi pas. No wonder the audience erupted into applause and maintained it for many minutes: Enthusiasm begets enthusiasm. The variety clearly made an impression; it was as if each woman felt Alaïa had designed something just for her.

Direct link: http://www.style.com/trends/fashion/2014/azzedine-alaia-spring-2015

 

[Littleathquakes]

I wanna see all 90 looks!

 

[Chanelcouture09]

A few more looks..


*Vogue.co.uk